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Joe Scarborough jumped in, querying the candidate: “Well, I mean, it’s also a person who kills journalists, political opponents, and invades countries. Obviously that would be a concern, would it not?”

“He’s running his country, and at least he’s a leader,” Trump replied. “Unlike what we have in this country.”

Scarborough followed up, “But again: He kills journalists that don’t agree with him.”

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The GOP front-runner noted that there is “a lot of killing going on” in the world right now. “I think our country does plenty of killing, also, Joe, so, you know,” Trump replied. “There’s a lot of stupidity going on in the world right now, Joe. A lot of killing going on. A lot of stupidity. And that’s the way it is. But you didn’t ask me [that] question, you asked me a different question. So that’s fine.”

Trump went on to state that he always “felt fine” about Putin and noted that he is very respected by the Russian people. “I think that he’s a strong leader. He’s a powerful leader … He’s actually got a popularity within his country. They respect him as a leader.”

Trump pointed out that Putin appears to be much better liked than Barack Obama.

“I think he’s up in the 80s. You see where Obama’s in the 30s and low-40s. And he’s up in the 80s,” Trump said. “And I don’t know who does the polls. Maybe he does the polls, but I think they’re done by American companies, actually.”

Some of Trump’s GOP rivals were quick to jump on Putin’s “endorsement” of the billionaire candidate.

“Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, questioned Trump’s foreign-policy knowledge. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina suggested Trump visit Ukraine, where the Russian state has backed separatist rebels. And Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said he was ‘really glad not to win the Putin primary,'” Business Insider reported.